Skins
Disclaimer: SM is the only one that owns Twilight.
Prologue
The rain fell in buckets as thunder cracked and lightening split the sky. Despite the noon hour, it was as dark outside. Timothy Rowden ran through the heavy forest with Hell at his heels. His clothes, soaked through, were plastered to his skin and started to make running difficult. Timothy tripped on the slick, spongy, ground and his last thoughts were focused on the irony that his death came straight out of some crappy horror flick.
The emaciated black wolf drifted out of the trees and circled the downed teen. Each time the boy moved the wolf bit him, savagely. It toyed with him for hours; the terrified human noticed the satisfaction in its milky eyes. When Timothy was close to death, the wolf snapped his neck and began its feast. It howled in contentment before it disappeared back into the trees, the remains of its meal left for the scavengers.
Ch. 1: Homecoming
BPOV
I left the plane and headed into the Port Angeles terminal stiffly. The shuttle flight from SEATAC in Seattle had been packed. That combined with the small plane meant very cramped conditions for the forty-five minute flight. The wind from the tarmac into the terminal was cool, even for September in the Olympic Peninsula, and my jacket had been packed in my large suitcase. Not that the cold bothered me, in fact the breeze tingled as it crossed my skin; almost as if it were welcoming me home.
This was the first time that I'd been back since I was thirteen. The same year I made the choice to follow my heart and was strapped. Charlie, my dad, had wept for three days straight because he felt that he had lost me just as he had lost my mother, Renee. She could not support his decision to live an average life as the Police Chief of some backwater town, thereby turning his back on those who needed him the most. So she took me and fled to blistering heat of Arizona.
That's not to say Charlie and I never saw each other. We spent two weeks every summer camping and hiking in the wild areas, first here then in California, Oregon and Canada; as well as every other Christmas together in Nova Scotia. Renee was a bit of a worrier so I never stayed to long away from the safety of the Private Community we lived in twenty miles outside of Phoenix. My father bristled under the restrictions at first but understood the reasons behind them and eventually let it go so he could enjoy what little time we had to spend together.
The terminal was predictably busy as people flocked back home in time for the first day of the new school year. I was more than a little nervous about that fact because this was the first time I had ever attended a public school. While the thirty families that lived in Erikson Estates made frequent trips to the city and knew Phoenix like the back of their hands, all of us children were home schooled. And while I had friends that lived in the Burbs, I didn't like to mix with Outsiders.
Charlie waited for me over by the baggage claim. His eyes lit up when he saw me make my way to him through the crowd. "Bells," he yelled and pulled me into a crushing bear hug when I got closer.
I hugged him back with as much strength as I had. "I missed you Char…Dad," I choked out.
He released me and gave me the look, the one that always meant that he still didn't approve of my use of his given name, or that I used it interchangeably with dad. I reciprocated with a look that told him that I'd been doing it all my life and I wouldn't stop now, just because I was going to be living with him until I graduated. Charlie laughed and shook his head. It was a losing battle and he knew it. His expression tightened a little when he noticed the tattoo on my right forearm. Fortunately, for both our sanities, he never said a word about it.
We grabbed my bags and headed out to his Police Cruiser parked at the curb. The hour drive back to my birthplace of Forks, Washington, was blissfully silent. Neither of us was overly verbose so we never felt the need to fill the silence with unnecessary chatter. Renee always said Charlie and I were too much alike in that respect. The trip, thus far, had been tiring; but as I lost myself in the thrum of the energy and beauty of this place, I became revitalized.
Charlie's house was exactly as it had been since before my mother had fled this town with me when I was only months old, at least on the outside. Like everything else in Forks, only the exteriors never changed. The insides were a whole other ballgame, this house was no exception. It was thoroughly modern with all the latest hardware and gadgets.
The kitchen and laundry room had new, energy efficient, appliances. The living room had the most up to date Entertainment Center; sixty-two inch plasma television, blu-ray DVD player, theater quality surround sound and audio system complete with iPod dock. Hell, the whole house was rigged for wireless internet access. All the furniture was picked for its comfort and classic design. This was the delicate balance that most of the town maintained in order to honor the past and thrive in the present.
I went up to my room and unpacked my stuff and was relieved that my trunk that Renee had sent arrived earlier. My room, at least, had not received a major overhaul, which made me thankful. The handmade oak furniture had been placed here before I was born so that I could grow into it. Now, I finally had. After an hour, everything had been put away and I went back downstairs to nosh on the pizza Charlie had ordered.
While we ate, he asked me questions about how things were back in Arizona. He pushed a slender silver rectangle at me just as I finished my last slice of pizza. A closer inspection showed that it was an e-book reader. Charlie explained that Forks High along with the school on the La Push Reservation had been chosen by the State Board of Education to test out the paperless, E-Campus model.
Through a Federal grant, each student received an e-book reader and a laptop. All the textbooks were PDF files and homework assignments were submitted as e-mail attachments. For the next two hours I set up my laptop, downloaded all of my textbooks, printed out my schedule and had taken a virtual tour of the school. Next, I e-mailed Renee and my friends back home then went to bed. Tomorrow was the first day of school and I wanted to be well rested.
It had started to rain just after we got back to the house, not an unusual occurrence in Forks. This was one of the rainiest places in the continental United States, after all. You would think that having lived in the desert for the better part of my life that the sound of the rain would keep me awake. It had the opposite effect; the gentle rhythm lulled me into a deep, restful sleep. Tomorrow would be full day.